A MAN who disappeared 42 years ago after a car crash is believed to have reappeared on a Melbourne street just months ago.
In one of the most baffling cases on Australian police missing persons files, Samuel Turner Wilson has twice resurfaced before disappearing again.
A grainy black and white photo of him stares from an Australian Federal Police file that reads like a paperback thriller.
"Samuel Wilson disappeared from Dromore in Northern Ireland on October 18, 1966," the National Missing Persons Co-ordination Centre profile states.
"He crashed his car and, after asking for help, disappeared.
"At the time there was some debate as to whether he had lost his memory and, washing in the sea nearby, fell in and drowned.
"However, in 1975 he was seen in Toronto, Canada, greeted the person who recognised him and then walked away.
"More recently still, he was seen in Melbourne, Australia."
Despite the reported sighting, neither the AFP nor Victoria Police, which both insist the other has carriage of the investigation, are any the wiser about where Mr Wilson is or whether it was him seen recently.
The matter is one of dozens of active cases involving Australians who have disappeared overseas.
The AFP lists another seven Australians as missing, in countries from Brazil to India.
According to the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, as of this month, 44 Australians in 30 countries are missing.
When loved ones fail to contact family while overseas, relatives can ask the Government to help.
The department activates a "whereabouts inquiry" and contacts its network of embassies, police, medical and Customs officials to try to locate the individual.
The missing Australians range in age from 11 to 80, and the greatest number were last seen in America.
Christopher Colombo, who would now be 45, is on the list.
He left Australia in 1997 for a holiday in Brazil. He contacted his family in the last week of April 1997 and again -- for the last time -- the next month.
Tony Clinch was last seen at Cairns Airport on November 15, 1997. Customs records show he landed at Roissy Airport, France, on November 16, 1997, but he has not been heard from since.
Ryan Anthony Chambers, 24, was last seen in Rishikesh, India, in August 2005.
Michael Desmond Cahill, who would now be 50, was last seen in Malaysia in 1998, after returning there from Australia to work at his engineering business.
In June 2004, Colin James Burgess, then 56, left Townsville on his yacht The Vangie for Bougainville.
In December of that year there was a possible sighting of him on Rossell Island, Papua New Guinea.
David Andrew Lindner, 42, stayed at the Azarbaijan Hotel in Iran on November 7 and 8, 1993.
It was to be the last record of his movements.
Odette Houghton, who would now be 41, was living in India and last saw her family in Thailand in 1990. Regular phone contact ended in August 1991.
A grainy black and white photo of him stares from an Australian Federal Police file that reads like a paperback thriller.
"Samuel Wilson disappeared from Dromore in Northern Ireland on October 18, 1966," the National Missing Persons Co-ordination Centre profile states.
"He crashed his car and, after asking for help, disappeared.
"At the time there was some debate as to whether he had lost his memory and, washing in the sea nearby, fell in and drowned.
"However, in 1975 he was seen in Toronto, Canada, greeted the person who recognised him and then walked away.
"More recently still, he was seen in Melbourne, Australia."
Despite the reported sighting, neither the AFP nor Victoria Police, which both insist the other has carriage of the investigation, are any the wiser about where Mr Wilson is or whether it was him seen recently.
The matter is one of dozens of active cases involving Australians who have disappeared overseas.
The AFP lists another seven Australians as missing, in countries from Brazil to India.
According to the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, as of this month, 44 Australians in 30 countries are missing.
When loved ones fail to contact family while overseas, relatives can ask the Government to help.
The department activates a "whereabouts inquiry" and contacts its network of embassies, police, medical and Customs officials to try to locate the individual.
The missing Australians range in age from 11 to 80, and the greatest number were last seen in America.
Christopher Colombo, who would now be 45, is on the list.
He left Australia in 1997 for a holiday in Brazil. He contacted his family in the last week of April 1997 and again -- for the last time -- the next month.
Tony Clinch was last seen at Cairns Airport on November 15, 1997. Customs records show he landed at Roissy Airport, France, on November 16, 1997, but he has not been heard from since.
Ryan Anthony Chambers, 24, was last seen in Rishikesh, India, in August 2005.
Michael Desmond Cahill, who would now be 50, was last seen in Malaysia in 1998, after returning there from Australia to work at his engineering business.
In June 2004, Colin James Burgess, then 56, left Townsville on his yacht The Vangie for Bougainville.
In December of that year there was a possible sighting of him on Rossell Island, Papua New Guinea.
David Andrew Lindner, 42, stayed at the Azarbaijan Hotel in Iran on November 7 and 8, 1993.
It was to be the last record of his movements.
Odette Houghton, who would now be 41, was living in India and last saw her family in Thailand in 1990. Regular phone contact ended in August 1991.